Yes, Ginevra, There Is a Jewish Wizard In Harry Potter

Sorry, though, it’s definitely not a Weasley. They’re an Irish Catholic family if ever I saw one.

While no one wants to look Pottermore’s recent stint of Christmas gifts—new writing from J.K. Rowling! An upcoming Draco Malfoy story!—in the mouth or anything, some fans can’t help but wonder in the midst of all this holiday cheer: where are all the wizards and witches who’d be celebrating Hanukkah? I mean, heck, the whole series is a giant unsubtle metaphor for World War II, there’s gotta be a least one kid levitating a dreidel all on his lonesome while everybody else shouts Happy Christmas at each other.

Luckily J.K .Rowling has answered that exact question, and in her classic J.K. Rowling way—by bringing up an incredibly minor character that almost no one remembers except her.

Note that despite Anthony’s relative insignificance, it’s not a name JK Rowling transfigured out of thin air (after all, everyone knows you can’t conjure food from nothing according to Gamp’s laws of Elemental Transfiguration, so it stands to reason that other forms of matter would also NEEEERDDD okay I’ll stop). Goldstein was a Ravenclaw prefect alongside Padma Patil in Order of the Phoenix, and attended several meetings of Dumbledore’s Army. He also appears in quite a lot of fanfiction about DA despite only having a few lines in the book, because of course he does. What, like the fandom’s not going to notice a wizard with a Jewish-sounding last name and trip over themselves writing awesomely complicated headcanons for him?C’mon, guys. 

But wait! For those of us want to know what else Rowling thought about representing in her books, she also stressed that there are many different religious organizations and schools of thought in Hogwarts. Well, save for one. 

Why not, Jo? Can you even imagine the amazing character drama that would transpire from a Muggle-born Wiccan getting dropped into Hogwarts? It’d be like that scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Willow’s at a UC Sunnydale Wiccan meeting and they’re all talking about their menstrual life force power, except in reverse. Tell me you would not dig your Pottermore username out of your e-mail archives in a heartbeat just to witness that magic unfold in front of you.

Anyway, now that Rowling’s officially put it on the record that Jewish wizards are definitely a thing, we can get into some real investigative journalism and ask her about the possible presence of Jewish werewolves, and how these often ostracized members of the wizarding community pass on their cultural heritage to their adolescence offspring. I think you know where I’m going with this.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

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Victoria McNally

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